13.7 billion is not expensive at all—Wang Xing's hidden capital story in the Yu Shu IPO prospectus

Question AI · How does Wang Xingxing’s specialized background contribute to a valuation of 10 billion?

From a 200 yuan hand-made robotic dog to the world’s leading humanoid robot in shipments, Unitree Technology has officially launched its IPO. This “specialized youth” has proven one thing in 10 years: a technology fanatic can succeed as well. A pre-IPO valuation of 12.7 billion is not expensive in today’s primary market; it’s a ticket to the future robot world. The angels, VCs, large enterprises, and state-owned enterprises boarding are quite happy.

Author | Xue Haohua

Editor | Barry

Image Source | Unitree Technology

On March 20, 2026, Unitree Technology Co., Ltd.'s IPO application for the Science and Technology Innovation Board was officially accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The company’s revenue reached 392 million yuan in 2024, and the predicted revenue for 2025 is expected to surge by 335% to 1.708 billion yuan, maintaining profitability for two consecutive years.

While the industry is generally mired in the “burning money to realize dreams” quagmire, Unitree Technology, through full-stack self-research and extreme cost reduction, not only sells quadruped robots globally, maintaining the world’s number one shipment volume, but also achieved shipments of over 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025.

As early as three months after the company’s establishment in 2016, individual investor Yin Fangming became the first investor; in 2018, variable capital associated with Geek Park and the Arm-affiliated Anchuang Accelerator also extended a helping hand to Unitree.

With Unitree’s rise in the quadruped robot sector, Dexion Investment, founded by Tencent co-founder Zeng Liqing, along with top VC firms such as Sequoia China, Shunwei, and Matrix Partners followed suit.

In the strategic investor camp, before the IPO, Meituan’s total shareholding exceeded 9.6%, firmly establishing itself as the largest external institutional shareholder; Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital (Astrend IV, 4.4%), ByteDance’s Jin Qiu Fund, Alibaba’s strategic investment, Ant Group, Tencent Investment, Geely Automobile, and other internet and industry giants also joined in, providing strong ecological support.

Meanwhile, national and local state-owned assets represented by Jingguorui Investment (holding 3.8262% through the Beijing Robot Industry Investment Fund), Zhongwang Investment (2.1089%), Shenzhen Capital Group (1.59%), Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation, and Zhongguancun Science City also joined Unitree’s supporters, jointly uplifting this 10 billion unicorn in the intelligent sector.

According to the prospectus, Meituan, Sequoia, and Matrix Partners are the top three external shareholders of Unitree Technology, with shareholding ratios of 9.65%, 7.12%, and 5.45%, respectively. For those early investors, they have partially exited through equity transfers, such as Yin Fangming, Zhang Peng, Anchuang Accelerator, and Dexion Investment, holding less than 1%.

The boy who hand-made robotic dogs in a “garage” is now heading towards his IPO bell.

The 10 billion unicorn attracts over 40 investors

Behind Unitree Technology’s sprint to the Science and Technology Innovation Board, with a projected market value of no less than 12.7 billion, is a nearly decade-long capital relay race.

Turning the pages of the prospectus, this 10 billion unicorn is backed by over 40 investors.

From the earliest personal angel Yin Fangming and variable capital under Geek Park to Sequoia China, Shunwei Capital, and Matrix Partners, now including giants like Meituan, Tencent, Xiaomi, and Alibaba, as well as Jingguorui Investment (Beijing Robot Industry Development Investment Fund), Shanghai Science and Technology Fund, and Zhongguancun Science City, state-owned assets are also stepping in.

In November 2016, just three months after Unitree’s establishment, former roobo co-founder and former head of Sogou Mobile Input Method Yin Fangming became the first investor in Unitree, holding more than 10% at that time. Interestingly, he later participated in the incubation and angel investment of another humanoid robot unicorn, Galaxy General, valued over 20 billion.

The prospectus shows that Yin Fangming has since exited his shares, but he remains an LP, indirectly holding shares through Tianjin Junwan Hongyi Partnership, which currently holds 3.07%, corresponding to an equity value of about 390 million yuan (based on 12.7 billion).

In 2017, it was said that Wang Xingxing faced numerous rejections while taking the prototype robotic dog around. At a closed-door seminar during the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Geek Park founder Zhang Peng brought Wang Xingxing into the fold, attempting to showcase the product to industry leaders like Lei Jun, Wang Xing, and Zhou Yuan, but returned empty-handed as the robotic dog malfunctioned at the threshold.

However, Zhang Peng was deeply impressed by Wang Xingxing’s robotic dog prototype Laikago and immediately flew to Hangzhou. In a “garage” office in Binjiang District, which lacked even a doorplate and was filled with parts, Zhang Peng and Wang Xingxing chatted for over two hours.

Unitree Technology’s robotic dog Laikago

In May 2018, Zhang Peng’s variable capital and Arm’s Anchuang Accelerator invested in Unitree’s angel round.

In August 2018, Dexion Investment, founded by Tencent co-founder Zeng Liqing, became one of the first mainstream investors to recognize Unitree. As one of the few super angels in China with a voice, his investment and recognition were crucial for Wang Xingxing, finally bringing him into the sights of mainstream VCs.

However, all three of these institutions partially exited in 2024 when the market began to reach consensus on the humanoid robot sector.

According to the prospectus, the equity transfer situation from June to August 2024 shows that Zhang Peng’s Jisi Investment transferred its shares to Amber Capital for 24.56 million yuan. Anchuang Technology transferred part of its equity to Guanghe Venture Capital (Guanghe Phase II) and Guangyue Investment in September 2024, with a total transfer price of 50 million yuan; Dexion Investment transferred its shares for 30 million yuan during the same period.

Entering 2019, the embodied intelligence sector remained quiet.

Li Yannan, then Vice President of Investments at Sequoia China’s Seed Fund, contacted Wang Xingxing at the beginning of the year. Due to high-speed trains not allowing high-energy batteries, Wang Xingxing took a train for over ten hours with the product to pitch at Sequoia’s Beijing office. When AlienGo demonstrated its powerful load capacity and complex movements like flips, and was priced at only one-tenth of Boston Dynamics, the Sequoia team was thoroughly impressed.

Notably, at that time, former Sequoia partner Cao Xi, who supported Unitree at the board meeting, later left Sequoia to establish Molith (Lisi Capital).

Sequoia China issued an investment intent letter on the spot and three months later led the Pre-A+ round, with Chuxin Capital also following in April 2020. They continued to invest in the B3 and C rounds. The prospectus shows that Sequoia China currently holds a total of 7.11%, with an equity value exceeding 900 million yuan based on 12.7 billion.

In August 2020, Xiangfeng Investment joined the supporter camp.

In July 2021, Shunwei Capital, under Lei Jun, exclusively led a multi-million dollar A round financing for Unitree.

At the Xiaomi next-generation SU7 launch event in March 2026, Lei Jun interacted with Wang Xingxing on stage, publicly thanking him: “This year marks the tenth anniversary of Unitree Technology. Thank you for giving us an investment opportunity five years ago.” Currently, Shunwei Capital’s affiliates hold 4.43%, corresponding to an equity value of about 562 million yuan.

Xiaomi next-generation SU7 launch event, Lei Jun and Wang Xingxing on stage

On December 30, 2021, Matrix Partners led a 91.5 million yuan B1 round financing for Unitree, with Matrix investing 71.5 million yuan and continuing to add in the following B3 and C rounds (total investment of around 180 million). The equity changes were completed in January 2022.

Joining Unitree in this round was also a multinational company, Hexagon from Sweden, which invested 20 million yuan. This approach is worth learning for many multinational companies. This company is a global leader in measurement and information technology solutions and was officially established in 2000. Hexagon is also an important partner in Unitree’s global 2B market development, having reached strategic cooperation in smart manufacturing, smart cities, and other fields. Li Hongquan, Global Vice President and President of Greater China for Hexagon Group, once stated: “We are very pleased to invest in Unitree as a strategic investor. We are very optimistic about Unitree’s leading position in the global quadruped robot sector and its future rapid development prospects…”

Matrix Partner Wang Huadong frankly stated that Unitree has leading self-research capabilities in core components for quadruped robots, with many products leading competitors in mass production and delivery. Currently, Matrix Partners holds a total of 5.45%, corresponding to an equity value of about 693 million yuan.

Subsequently, in March 2022, Shenzhen Capital and Dunhong Asset led a round of investment totaling 108 million yuan, with follow-on investments from Rongyi Investment and Shunwei, leading to a post-investment valuation of 1.108 billion.

In August 2022, state-owned representative Zhongwang Investment invested 20 million yuan in Unitree.

But the true consensus in the capital market came in 2024.

In February 2024, Unitree Technology completed a 600 million yuan B2 round of investment, led by Meituan’s strategic investment team, headed by Chen Shaohui (who previously worked at Sequoia China). The business registration shows that Zhang Haifeng (formerly a partner at DCM’s Innovation and Growth Fund and listed in the 2016-2020 Entrepreneur Magazine’s 4040 Investors) served as a director at Unitree.

In September of the same year, Meituan Longzhu made an additional investment in the B3 round, primarily responsible for Wang Xinyu (who was listed in the 2025 Entrepreneur Magazine’s 4040 Investors), and two Meituan investment institutions further invested in the C round in 2025 (total investment exceeding 400 million).

It is worth emphasizing that although Meituan entered later, it has rapidly become Unitree’s largest external institutional shareholder, with a total shareholding of 9.65%, with a share value exceeding 1.225 billion yuan.

Recalling the investment logic, Meituan Longzhu partner Wang Xinyu stated that at the end of 2023, he visited the United States, where he visited robotics labs at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, and found that all these labs had Unitree’s robotic dogs and were very interested in Unitree’s humanoid robots, wanting to buy them even before they officially launched.

“If the world’s best robotics PhDs are using his products for development and planning to buy his products, that must be an investment inflection point,” Wang Xinyu judged.

This round also saw the participation of institutions like Jinshi Capital and Source Code Capital, with existing shareholders like Shenzhen Capital and Zhongwang Investment also following up, resulting in a post-investment valuation of 3.1 billion. Subsequently, as mentioned above, Source Code Capital and Light Speed also purchased portions of the angel investment.

In the C round financing in June 2025, Unitree Technology welcomed a “big embrace” from industrial capital.

In addition to Meituan, former ByteDance financial investment head Yang Jie established Jin Qiu Fund, which has deep ties with ByteDance, along with Alibaba, Ant Group, funds under China Mobile, Tencent Investment, and Geely Capital leading this round of financing amounting to 694 million initiated at the end of 2024, with a pre-investment valuation exceeding 10 billion yuan and a post-investment valuation of about 12.7 billion.

Meanwhile, local state-owned assets also invested intensively, jointly uplifting this 10 billion unicorn in the intelligent sector.

As early as the end of March 2024, an investment agreement was signed between Jingguorui and Shoucheng Holdings, jointly managing the Beijing Robot Industry Development Investment Fund, completing an investment in Unitree Technology.

In August 2024, Unitree officially completed a 285 million yuan investment led by state-owned assets, with Jingguorui, Zhongguancun Science City, and Shanghai Science and Technology Fund all stepping in, where Shanghai Science and Technology acquired shares from Shunwei Capital between June and August 2024, with a transfer price of 15 million yuan equivalent in US dollars.

The injection of this capital has provided solid support for Unitree Technology in establishing industrial presence and ecosystem building across various regions.

Selling robots for 1.7 billion in 2025

Prospectus data shows that Unitree Technology is at a tipping point of explosive growth. In 2022, the company’s revenue was only 123 million yuan, but by 2024, this figure had soared to 392 million yuan. Even more remarkable is that the forecasted revenue for the entirety of 2025 is as high as 1.708 billion yuan, a staggering year-on-year increase of 335.36%.

While revenue is skyrocketing, the company’s profitability is also continuing to optimize. The projected net profit excluding non-recurring items is expected to reach 600 million yuan, a year-on-year surge of 674.29%. The gross margin for its main business has risen from 44.18% in 2022 to 59.45% in the first three quarters of 2025.

This “dual hit” of rising quantity and price is rare among hard tech startups.

Supporting this impressive data is Unitree Technology’s “full-stack self-research” business model.

From core model algorithms like embodied intelligence and reinforcement learning to core components like high-performance motors and gear reducers, Unitree Technology has firmly grasped the lifeblood of the industry chain.

This production model of “self-assembling core components and outsourcing non-core parts” not only significantly enhances the robot’s integration and movement capabilities but also grants the company absolute pricing power.

During the reporting period, its quadruped robots achieved cumulative sales of over 30,000 units, establishing an absolute advantage in the global market. However, Unitree Technology’s ambitions extend far beyond this.

Unitree Technology’s robotic dog Go2

The explosion of humanoid robot business has become the strongest engine for Unitree Technology’s second growth curve.

The prospectus indicates that in 2023, only 5 humanoid robots were sold, contributing less than 2% of revenue; but by the first three quarters of 2025, humanoid robot sales surged to 3,551 units, with sales revenue reaching 595 million yuan, accounting for 51.53%, surpassing quadruped robots for the first time to become the company’s largest source of revenue.

In 2025, Unitree Technology’s humanoid robot shipments exceeded 5,500 units, firmly maintaining the global lead. Among them, the mid-sized humanoid robot G1, priced below 100,000 yuan, has become the best-selling humanoid robot globally from 2024 to 2025 due to its high cost-performance ratio and excellent movement performance.

Unitree Technology’s humanoid robot G1

In terms of sales channels, Unitree Technology has established a “four-track parallel” three-dimensional network (online and offline, direct sales and distribution). Offline direct sales and distribution contributed over 86% of revenue, covering core B-end customers such as domestic and foreign tech companies, research institutions, and universities.

At the same time, through online sales on platforms like Tmall, JD.com, and Amazon, as well as e-commerce warehousing models, the company has successfully reached a broader C-end and long-tail market. This omnichannel coverage capability has enabled Unitree Technology’s products to rapidly achieve large-scale applications in various scenarios such as inspection and surveying, firefighting and rescue, and research and education.

From the A1 quadruped robot setting a running speed record in 2020, to the G1 achieving electric-driven side flips in place in 2025, and to the 24 G1s and 1 H2 showcasing millisecond-level coordination in a performance in “Wu BOT” at the beginning of 2026, Unitree Technology continuously refreshes the industry’s technical benchmarks.

Even more forward-looking is the lightweight robot R1 released in July 2025, which not only features multi-modal interaction capabilities but was also rated as the Best Invention of the Year by Time Magazine, aimed at providing a high-cost-performance open platform for global developers.

Unitree Technology’s humanoid robot R1

An extraordinary success

Wang Xingxing, a young man born in 1990 in Yuyao, Ningbo, Zhejiang, is not a traditional “academic elite.” With strong hands-on abilities since childhood, he was labeled as “specialized” or “a bit slow” due to poor English grades.

Unitree Technology founder and CEO Wang Xingxing

However, it is this obsession and focus on technology that has laid the foundation for his later surge in the embodied intelligence sector.

During his undergraduate studies at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Wang Xingxing displayed an astonishing geek spirit. While most classmates were methodically completing their coursework, he used just over 200 yuan in materials, manual drill bits, and scraps to create a desktop biped robot.

While pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Shanghai University, he even extended his graduation by six months to develop a robotic dog XDog. In 2015, he brought this XDog, which he had poured countless efforts into, to the Shanghai Robotics Design Competition, winning second place and an 80,000 yuan prize, earning his first pot of gold.

After graduating in 2016, Wang Xingxing briefly joined DJI. However, he yearned to start his own business.

In August 2016, Wang Xingxing officially founded Unitree Technology.

The prospectus shows that before the issuance, Wang Xingxing controlled a total of 34.7630% of the company’s shares. Due to the company’s special voting rights arrangement, his total control over voting rights reached 68.7816%. After this issuance, his total control over voting rights will decrease to no more than 65.3090%.

His entrepreneurial team’s core members include three people: Yang Zhiyu, born in 1991, who joined the company in 2016 and is responsible for mechanical structure development, holding a 4.9142% stake; Zhang Guangguang, born in 1993, who has been with Unitree Technology since January 2018 and is the current director and head of algorithms and software, holding a 4.9142% stake; and another classmate, Chen Li, born in 1990, who joined the company in 2018 and is responsible for sales and service systems, holding a 5.4603% stake. The shares of these three core colleagues are indirectly held through Shanghai Yuyi.

In the subsequent entrepreneurial journey, Wang Xingxing fully implemented the concept of “full-stack self-research” and “extreme cost reduction.”

As early as the initial stage of entrepreneurship, Wang Xingxing adopted a motor-driven technology route and self-researched all core components, including motors and gear reducers.

At the same time, “full-stack self-research” not only significantly enhanced the integration and movement capabilities of robots, but was also key to achieving “extreme cost reduction”: in 2023, the price of a Go2 was driven down to 9,997 yuan, bringing quadruped robots into the “ten thousand yuan era” for the first time.

In the humanoid robot sector, the G1, priced below 100,000 yuan, has become the best-selling humanoid robot globally in the past two years due to its high cost-performance ratio.

However, while Unitree Technology has achieved excellence in hardware and motion control, its investment in the robot’s “brain” (embodied intelligence algorithms and AI large models) has been relatively insufficient.

Nevertheless, behind Unitree Technology’s sprint to IPO, competition in the embodied intelligence sector has become fierce.

According to incomplete statistics, as of early 2026, there are over 140 companies related to humanoid robots in China, with at least 6 unicorn companies valued over 10 billion. In this rapidly growing sector, while Unitree Technology has excelled in hardware and motion control, it faces strong competition from latecomers in the investment into the robot’s “brain” (embodied intelligence algorithms and AI large models).

Take Galaxy General as an example; this company, founded by a 90s professor from Peking University in less than three years, quickly became a darling of the capital market with its world’s first integrated “brain-cerebellum-neural control” end-to-end embodied large model “Galaxy Star Brain.” In March 2026, Galaxy General announced the completion of a new round of financing of 2.5 billion yuan, breaking the domestic record for single-round financing in embodied intelligence, with a valuation exceeding 20 billion.

To address this shortcoming, Unitree Technology is accelerating its catch-up. The prospectus shows that a significant portion of the funds raised in this IPO will be directly allocated to the research and development of embodied intelligence large models and the establishment of a computing power center.

In the past two years, Unitree Technology has truly welcomed a “hot breakout.”

In March 2025, the G1 humanoid robot achieved electric-driven side flips in place, setting a new industry record; in July 2025, the lightweight robot R1 was recognized as the Best Invention of the Year by Time Magazine; by early 2026, 24 G1s and 1 H2 robot showcased millisecond-level coordination in a performance in “Wu BOT,” igniting widespread attention online.

Unitree Technology’s G1 performing a side flip

From selling hardware to selling ecosystems, from the dominant quadruped robot to the leader in general humanoid robots, Unitree Technology’s business logic has become very clear: to build a moat of technology and cost through full-stack self-research, to drive product scale implementation through extreme cost-performance ratios, and ultimately to establish its own high-performance general robot industrial ecosystem through open-source algorithms and open platforms.

Many people may not understand Wang Xingxing, just as they couldn’t understand the boy who hand-made a robotic dog for 200 yuan in his dormitory. While the embodied intelligence sector in 2026 is still collectively mired in the anxiety of “burning money to chase dreams,” Unitree Technology (Unitree) is charging toward the Science and Technology Innovation Board with 2025’s performance of 1.7 billion in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 335%, and a net profit excluding non-recurring items surging to 600 million. Compared with many hard tech companies already listed that burn cash, this pre-IPO valuation is indeed not expensive.

After sitting on the sidelines for 7-8 years, Wang Xingxing is beginning to become a darling of capital, and his success also teaches a lesson to Chinese parents and the education system: parents who push for academic performance finally realize that their children can succeed even without entering prestigious schools.

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